Honeycomb Leatherjacket, Cantherhines pardalis (Rüppell 1837)


Other Names: Brown Leather-jacket, Honeycomb Filefish, Honeycomb Leather-jacket, Indo-Pacific Leatherjacket, Leopard Leatherjacket, Leopard Leather-jacket, Wire-net Filefish, Wire-netting Filefish, Wire-netting Leatherjacket

A Honeycomb Leatherjacket, Cantherhines pardalis, at Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Source: Rick Stuart-Smith / Reef Life Survey. License: CC BY Attribution

Summary:
A secretive bluish-grey leatherjacket with a dark "honeycomb" pattern on the body, bluish to purplish stripes on the head, and usually a small white patch on the top of the caudal peduncle just behind the dorsal fin. Some individuals are dark to pale brown with a paler pattern on the body and yellowish fins.

Cite this page as:
Bray, D.J. 2020, Cantherhines pardalis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 29 Mar 2024, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/798

Honeycomb Leatherjacket, Cantherhines pardalis (Rüppell 1837)

More Info


Distribution

Jurien Bay to the Dampier Archipelago, and offshore reefs of north Western Australia, Ashmore and Cartier Reefs in the Timor Sea, and the far northern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, and reefs in the Coral Sea, to Green Cape, New South Wales; also Christmas Island and Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the eastern Indian Ocean, and the Lord Howe Province and possibly Norfolk Island in the Tasman Sea. Elsewhere the species is widespread in the tropical, Indo-west-central Pacific from the Red Sea, and east and South Africa, east to the Marquesas and Pitcairn Islands, north to southern Japan.
Individuals or pairs usually inhabit outer reef slopes at depths to 20 m. This shy species usually retreats rapidly into shelter when approached.  Juveniles may occur amongst floating seaweeds.

Features

Dorsal fin II + 32-36; Anal fin 29-32.

Colour

Variable with three basic colour patterns, all with a small white spot on the upper part of the caudal-fin base just behind the second dorsal fin. The colour patterns include grey, mottled grey or dark to pale brown, with a honeycomb pattern or a network of close-set polygonal spots on the sides. Some individuals have five indistinct dark stripes along the side that converge on the tail base.

Feeding

Feeds on benthic invertebrates.

Similar Species

This species is easily distinguished by the small white patch on upper part of the tail base just behind the dorsal fin. 

Etymology

The specific name pardalis is from the Latin pardus (= panther or leopard) and alis (relating to) in reference to the network of close-set polygonal spots on the body.

Species Citation

Monacanthus pardalis Rüppell 1837, Fische des Rothen Meeres 3: 57, pl. 15, fig. 3. Type locality: Tor, Red Sea.

Author

Bray, D.J. 2020

Resources

Atlas of Living Australia

Honeycomb Leatherjacket, Cantherhines pardalis (Rüppell 1837)

References


Allen, G.R. 1997. Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia and South-east Asia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 292 pp. 106 pls. 

Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. 2012. Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth : Tropical Reef Research 3 vols, 1260 pp.

Allen, G.R., Hoese, D.F., Paxton, J.R., Randall, J.E., Russell, B.C., Starck, W.A., Talbot, F.H. & Whitley, G.P. 1976. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Lord Howe Island. Records of the Australian Museum 30(15): 365-454 figs 1-2 

Allen, G.R. & Smith-Vaniz, W.F. 1994. Fishes of Cocos (Keeling) Islands. Atoll Research Bulletin 412: 1-21. 

Allen, G.R., Steene, R.C. & Orchard, M. 2007. Fishes of Christmas Island. Christmas Island : Christmas Island Natural History Association 2 edn, 284 pp. 

Allen, G.R. & Swainston, R. 1988. The Marine Fishes of North-Western Australia. A field guide for anglers and divers. Perth, WA : Western Australian Museum vi 201 pp., 70 pls. 

Castelnau, F.L. de 1873. Contribution to the ichthyology of Australia. 6. Notes on fishes from Knob Island. Proceedings of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria 2: 98-109. (as Monacanthus brunneus)

Francis, M. 1993. Checklist of the coastal fishes of Lord Howe, Norfolk, and Kermadec Islands, southwest Pacific Ocean. Pacific Science 47(2): 136-170 figs 1-2 

Gloerfelt-Tarp, T. & Kailola, P.J. 1984. Trawled Fishes of Southern Indonesia and Northwest Australia. Jakarta : Dir. Gen. Fish. (Indonesia), German Tech. Coop., Aust. Dev. Ass. Bur. 406 pp.

Grant, E.M. 1975. Guide to Fishes. Brisbane : Queensland Government, Co-ordinator General’s Department 640 pp. (as Cantherhines sandwichiensis)

Hobbs, J.-P.A., Newman, S.J., Mitsopoulos, G.E.A., Travers, M.J., Skepper, C.L., Gilligan, J.J., Allen, G.A., Choat, H.J. & Ayling, A.M. 2014. Checklist and new records of Christmas Island fishes: the influence of isolation, biogeography and habitat availability on species abundance and community composition. Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 30: 184-202.

Hutchins, B. 2004. Fishes of the Dampier Archipelago, Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 66: 343–398.

Hutchins, J.B. 1977. Descriptions of three new genera and eight new species of monacanthid fishes from Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 5(1): 3-58 figs 1-13 

Hutchins, J.B. 1994. A survey of the nearshore reef fish fauna of Western Australia's west and south coasts — The Leeuwin Province. Records of the Western Australian Museum, Supplement 46: 1-66 figs 1-6 

Hutchins, J.B. 1994. Family Monacanthidae. pp. 866-891 figs 767-787 in Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds) The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs. 

Hutchins, J.B. 2001. Biodiversity of shallow reef fish assemblages in Western Australia using a rapid censusing technique. Records of the Western Australian Museum 20: 247-270.

Hutchins, J.B. 2001. Monacanthidae. pp. 3929-3947 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds) The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 6 pp. 3381-4218. 

Hutchins, J.B., Williams, D.McB., Newman, S.J., Cappo, M. & Speare, P. 1995. New records of fishes for the Rowley Shoals and Scott/Seringapatam Reefs, off north-western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 17: 119-123.

Johnson, J.W., 1999. Annotated checklist of the fishes of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 43(2): 709-762.

Johnson, J.W. 2010. Fishes of the Moreton Bay Marine Park and adjacent continental shelf waters, Queensland, Australia. pp. 299-353 in Davie, P.J.F. & Phillips, J.A. Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Marine Biological Workshop, The Marine Fauna and Flora of Moreton Bay. Memoirs of the Queensland Museum 54(3) 

Kawase, H. & Nakazono, A. 1994. Reproductive Behavior of the Honeycomb Leatherjacket, Cantherhines pardalis (Monacanthidae), at Kashiwajima, Japan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 41(1): 80-83

Kuiter, R.H. 1992. Tropical Reef-Fishes of the Western Pacific, Indonesia and Adjacent Waters. Jakarta : PT Gramedia Pustaka Utama 314 pp. pls. 

Kuiter, R.H. 1993. Coastal Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 437 pp. 

Marshall, T.C. 1964. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coastal Waters of Queensland. Sydney : Angus & Robertson 566 pp. 136 pls.

Matsuura, K. 2015. Taxonomy and systematics of tetraodontiform fishes: a review focusing primarily on progress in the period from 1980 to 2014. Ichthyology Research 62: 72-113.

Matsuura, K. & Motomura, H. 2016. Cantherhines pardalis (errata version published in 2017). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2016: e.T70010275A115475527. http://dx.doi.org/10.2305/IUCN.UK.2016-1.RLTS.T70010275A70011789.en. Downloaded on 15 January 2019.

Ogilby, J.D. 1908. Descriptions of new Queensland fishes. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 21: 87-98. (as Pseudomonacanthus melanoides)

Oxley, W.G., Ayling, A.M., Cheal, A.J. & Osborne, K. 2004. Marine surveys undertaken in the Elizabeth and Middleton Reefs Marine National Nature Reserve, December 2003. Townsville : Australian Institute of Marine Sciences 64 pp. 

Oxley, W.G., Ayling, A.M., Cheal, A.J. & Thompson, A.A. 2003. Marine surveys undertaken in the Coringa-Herald National Nature Reserve, March-April 2003. Townsville : Australian Institute of Marine Science 59 pp. 

Oxley, W.G., Emslie, M., Muir, P. & Thompson, A.A. 2004. Marine surveys undertaken in the Lihou Reef National Nature Reserve, March 2004. Townsville : Australian Institute of Marine Science i-vii, 1-67 pp. 

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Randall, J.E. 2011. Review of the circumtropical monacanthid fish genus Cantherhines, with descriptions of two new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes 40: 1-30. 

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Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R. & Steene, R. 1997. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Bathurst : Crawford House Press 557 pp. figs. 

Rüppell, W.P.E. 1837. Neue Wirbelthiere zu der Fauna von Abyssinien gehörig. Fische des Rothen Meeres. Frankfurt Vol. 3, pp. 53–80, pls 15–21. See ref at BHL

Russell, B.C. 1983. Annotated checklist of the coral reef fishes in the Capricorn-Bunker group, Great Barrier Reef, Australia. Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Special Publication Series 1: 1-184 figs 1-2 

Russell, B.C., Larson, H.K., Hutchins, J.B. & Allen, G.R. 2005. Reef fishes of the Sahul Shelf. The Beagle, Records of the Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory Supplement 1 2005: 83-105

Quick Facts


CAAB Code:37465051

Conservation:IUCN Least Concern

Depth:2-20 m

Habitat:Reef associated

Max Size:25 cm TL

Species Maps

CAAB distribution map